Jefferson Dragons (5-6) at Jesuit Tigers (11-0)

Head Coaches:
Jefferson – Jeremy Earle (5th season, 31-21 record)
Jesuit – Matt Thompson (3rd season, 27-9 record)

All-Time Series:
Jefferson leads 15-4-1

Last Meeting:
Jesuit 21-14 (9/18/15)

What’s At Stake:
Both teams are looking to advance to the Class 5A, Region 3 Finals.

Players To Watch:
Jefferson – QB Tyrese Spain, RB Mondreas Lofton, WR Antonio Nunn, ILB/SS Jamaree Pearson
Jesuit – RB Malik Davis, QB Daniel Boon, ILB Braden Gilby, OLB Parker Looney

Playoff Scenario:
Winner gets the winner of Immokalee at Dunbar. A Jesuit win means they host the next round regardless of their opponents. A Jefferson win + an Immokalee win means Jefferson would host the Region 3 Finals. A Jefferson win + Dunbar win means the Dragons would travel to Fort Myers for the next round.

The Quick Slant:
Jesuit’s stud RB Malik Davis rushed for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first meeting between these two–he’s averaging 203 yards per game and needs 154 yards to break the 2,000-yard mark for the season. Jefferson’s Tyrese Spain and Mondreas Lofton have combined for 3,000+ yards and 30+ touchdowns this season.

Jefferson wins IF:
The Dragons can build on the foundation they set for themselves all the way back the third week of September. Malik Davis is going to get his yards, but the the trick is not to let him just go off. The Dragons have enough beef in the trenches to play straight-up with Jesuit and if Spain and Lofton can make some plays on offense and put the ball in the end zone–this game could become an instant classic.

Jesuit wins IF:
The game plan is far from rocket science for the Tigers. Get Malik Davis going early-and-often. The Tigers were given their closest challenge of the season by Jefferson with the margin of victory “just” 7 points. The only teams closer in margin were Tampa Catholic and Pasco–and those were double-digit margins at that. With that in mind, this one sets up as a black-and-blue-Epsom-Salt-special–meaning Jesuit probably doesn’t want to find itself in an offensive shootout with the Dragons. They’ll want to take the air out of the ball and play smothering defense.